Insomnia
by Yumi-tan
Summary: A two-shot about how an exception became a habit, then a ritual between Gray and Erza.
1. Gray

**Chapter 1 : Gray**

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Gray Fullbuster had been lying on his bed for at least an hour. This time again, he couldn't manage to sleep. He had ended up getting used to this little ritual he had with her for more than a month, and it was impossible for him to fall asleep without her. Yes, he had ended up depending on her nocturnal presence.

He caught a glance at his alarm clock. Twenty-nine past eleven. She shouldn't be long now. Gray turned his attention to the window to which his bed was against, expecting to see her appearing. He remembered the mission that had led them to this addictive habit of theirs and a smile appeared across his lips. He would have never thought that a mage like her would get into such a cute habit, especially with him. At first reluctant, he had ended up accepting her to come every night. Mind you, she had rather imposed herself one fine day without his say and she had come the following day, and the day after next, and so on and so forth, before he could even realise that her nocturnal visit had become essential to him, too. Actually, he had felt the same emptiness as her after this mission, but this feeling, he knew it for way longer than her... And if he had been reluctant at the beginning, it was especially because he had feared that things would change between them. He knew that she went only to sleep because, for whatever reason, he enabled her to appease her insomnia, but he had feared that he would end up getting too used to her presence, but also fantasising or having perverse thoughts about his team-mate and thus, he would have created a distance with her, way bigger than it already was. While it had been even harder for him to sleep in the same bed as his team-mate at the beginning, he had ended up enjoying the fact that she came every night, at the same hour. It was like their own secret, which got them even closer, to the extent that they had the impression they had found again this friendship so fraternal that united them. Yes, fraternal. With her, it couldn't be otherwise, but at least, it was him who she went to see and not Natsu, Lucy or God knows who.

Gray looked at his alarm clock once again. It was almost one o'clock and she was still not here. He sat up and looked at the window, waiting to see a shadow coming from nowhere, but still no sign of his favourite mage. He started worrying. What if something had happened to her? No, it was impossible. She was the most powerful female mage of the guild. Maybe she had managed to fall asleep without him this time... He felt heartache at this thought. He shouldn't mind it; he should even be happy to know that she didn't have insomnia problems anymore. But that would mean that she would no longer come to see him every night. That would also mean that she wouldn't need him anymore and that he wasn't that essential to her. How cheesy he was...

Eventually, two little knocks at the pane made him snap out his thoughts. He then turned his head toward the origin of the noise and a smile appeared across his lips. In less than a second, he had opened the window in question and was welcoming a mage with scarlet hair.

"Erza! Are you aware of what time it is?"

That was all he could say. He would definitely not tell her that he had been waiting for her for almost three hours, and much less that he had ended up thinking that she wouldn't come because she had found another person to appease her insomnia (with blue hair).

"Sorry. Juvia was lurking around your place and she ended up seeing me. I told her I was doing a round because some people had complained about some dubious noises every night. I think she understood something else because she looked at your apartment while saying that she had been sure about it for a while and that she had now the confirmation that you were cheating on her... I had to spend hours convincing her of the contrary... And when she finally stopped crying, she hid in the lane opposite you and set about staring at your apartment. I thought she would never leave! And while I was pretending to patrol she suddenly went toward me and set about sniffing me!"

Gray smirked. Erza finally understood what it was to be followed and sniffed by Juvia. The water mage could be freaky sometimes.

"And then?" he asked, suspecting what the mage with blue hair had done.

"She ran away, saying that she should have known it from the beginning and that she now knew who spent her nights with you. I didn't know you had a girlfriend, Gray. You should have told me, I wouldn't have come all those nights."

Gray sighed. Erza could be very smart as she could be ignorant. Not figuring out that Juvia had been talking about her while she was the only one who spent her nights with him... All the more so as being in his bed, she would have known if he saw a woman during the night. But Erza being Erza, little did she know that Juvia was persuaded that they were going out together... Deep down inside, Gray was quite glad that the requip mage was that blind. Not only because she didn't realise that slipping in his bed every night could seem ambiguous, but added to that, she wouldn't feel guilty toward the ex-mage of Phantom Lord, because in both the cases, she would have stopped her nocturnal visits, and of course, awkwardness would have set up between the two childhood friends. Without forgetting Juvia... The two girls being friends, Erza wouldn't want to hurt her, even though to her, slipping in Gray's bed didn't have any ambiguity nor any meaning, other than helping her with just his presence. So even though he would never admit it, he liked her nocturnal visits and wanted in no case for them to stop.

Gray contemplated Erza for a few seconds. She had slipped under his sheets in no time at all, without him even having realised it. As usual, she was holding his pillow and, in a fraction of a second, she had already fallen asleep. He smiled, seeing her face so peaceful; so serene. He had ended up getting used to seeing her so different from the awake Titania, but he always was surprised at the rapidity she fell asleep (and this time, even quicker than usual, probably because of the hours she had spent outside, waiting to be able to come at his place), and couldn't help but contemplate her for countless minutes. Gray's gaze moved down, little by little, and it was only at this moment that he noticed that she had requiped herself into a babydoll. Yes, Erza Scarlet was wearing a babydoll and was incredibly sexy when she was sleeping (especially in his own bed). He observed her naked legs for a while, blushing. His eyes moved up to the top of her body and his gaze eventually stopped at her chest which was rising at each of her breaths. Gray slapped himself mentally, like every night, and lay down next to Erza. He closed his eyes and the young woman's perfume filled his nostrils. In a few minutes, he had fallen asleep in turn. His childhood friend's presence really changed everything...


	2. Erza

**Chapter 2 : Erza**

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Erza Scarlet was tossing and turning in her bed. This time again, she couldn't manage to sleep. After an hour, she decided to give up and to go to Gray's place. It had become a habit of hers since this mission for two. The mission in itself didn't have anything extraordinary, except that it demanded Gray and Erza to be the mages who would have to deal with it, because since the Grand Magic Games, most of the clients chose the mages who they wanted. The clients were a couple in which the wife was a fan of Gray (she thought he was adorable), while the husband was a fan of Erza (he said that she was the most powerful mage of all Fiore). What they hadn't expected was that the mission lasted two days (the enemies were more powerful and in greater quantities than excpected). They hadn't had reserved rooms so they had had to find an inn at the last minute. Unfortunately, the town was jam-packed because of the annual carnival so it had been difficult for them to find a place to sleep. Eventually, a little inn had had a withdrawal, but they only had one room with a single bed left. Erza had not left Gray time to say anything, of course, and had taken the room. When they had gone to bed, he had wanted to sleep on the floor, to which she had answered by pulling him by the collar of his shirt – which he had miraculously kept – in order to pull him toward the bed. They had been pressed together but she had enjoyed his presence. She had never noticed how good he smelt, nor even that although he was an ice mage, his skin was way warmer than what she would have thought. What's more, it was very soft... Especially his chest...

Erza blushed at this memory. They had woken up, stuck against each other, Erza holding Gray from behind and fondling unconsciously his bare chest so perfectly sculpted (a thing that she had only realised on their way back – his perfect chest – when thinking of this embarassing moment). The very evening of their return, Erza had tried to sleep for hours, in vain. She had felt that something was wrong and that something was missing. She had needed a presence, but not any presence. She had gone for a stroll and for reasons that she didn't know, she had found herself in front of Gray's place. Juvia had just left after staying under Gray's window for hours (according to Erza's suppositions), surely to spy on him while changing or quite simply to check him out, as usual. For whatever reason, Erza had headed toward his room's window and had waited for a few minutes, waiting for God knows what. After a while, she had eventually knocked on the window of the young man who had opened for her while yawning. He then had asked her why the hell she had come to wake him up at three o'clock and all she had been able to say was that she couldn't manage to sleep. To her big surprise, Gray hadn't gotten angry and had offered her to enter. She had then explained to him what was happening to her, that is to say that she felt a kind of emptiness, that it was as if she was missing something terribly, as if she had tasted the tastiest strawberry cake for a few seconds and she ended up separated from it but it was still within sight, as if to remind her that her taste buds and it would never be reunited again. Gray then had asked her if she had always felt this sensation and she had answered him no. Given that she had felt appeased in his apartment, she had asked him if she could sleep at his home, to which he had answered that he didn't mind with a hesitant tone. She had seen well that he had been reluctant, but she had felt very good there. He had then offered her his bed while he said that he would sleep on the couch, but she had replied that she would never accept that he sleep anywhere other than in his bed because of her. This is how they had ended up in the same bed, for the second time. While he had been preparing an infusion for Erza, she had lain down on his bed and at the very moment when her head had touched Gray's pillow, she had found this feeling of well-being. This feeling so pleasurable which she had known and which she had missed for twenty-four hours. She had then held the pillow against her chest and had fallen asleep before Gray could even come back with her drink. It was when she had woken up the following morning that she had understood what she had missed when she had been alone in her bed at Fairy Hill. Even though it had lasted only one night, she had gotten used to the softness of the ice mage's skin. She had wanted to feel this warmth which emanated from his body and smell this perfume, which was so intoxicating. This feeling had become an addiction and even though she dared to do a lot of things without asking the others' opinion or without caring about the consequences (even though she reproached it to Gray and Natsu, she was like them), she could definitely not ask Gray to give her his pillow full of his scent (especially as it must have had her own scent at that moment). So she had left, thanking Gray for letting her sleep at his place.

The following night, she had spent hours trying to sleep again, in vain. She had finally decided to come to Gray's place again. When he had opened the window for her (Juvia had been in front of the front foor), he had seemed surprised to see her again but his surprise had quickly given way to a sigh. Still, he had expected it to happen. This time again, she had squatted his bed and had pinched one of his pillows, not to use it but to hold it against her. Nevertheless, for a reason that she didn't know, she had decided to sleep in babydoll, unlike the last times (all dressed or in pyjamas). The nights had come one after another, just like her nocturnal visits which had ended up becoming a habit and now, much more than before, she knew that she would never be able to fall asleep without Gray, unless she would be dead tired (or with sleeping pills...).

Erza was so absorbed by her memories that she didn't notice that she had arrived in Gray's street. That's when she heard a familiar voice in her back.

"Erza-san?"

The requip mage froze. She had completely forgotten to check if the coast was clear, and most of all, she had come by the front. Usually, she always ensured that there was nobody – and especially Juvia – and went through the window, just in case (and from habit).

Erza slowly turned around, pondering as fast as possible to find a reason of her presence which would be sufficiently plausible.

"Juvia! You shouldn't hang around in the vicinity at this hour; I've heard that some fishy things happened here,"

"Like what? If something happens to Gray-sama, Juvia must intervene!"

"It's nothing serious, just dubious noises coming from there," Erza said while showing the building where Gray lived with a vague gesture.

"Gray-sama's?!"

"I didn't say that... It comes from this street, that's all I know... Anyway, I have to continue my round,"

"Erza-san, you don't need to spare Juvia. Anyway, Juvia suspected something..."

"Something?" Erza started wondering what she could say if Juvia accused her for stealing her Gray-sama from her.

"Yes, Gray-sama become nicer with Juvia because he's cheating on her..." said the water mage, in tears.

"Juvia, Gray can't cheat on you... And Gray is always nice with you... But if he's nicer than usual, maybe it's because he realised that you mean to him..."

"But Juvia smelt a woman's scent on his sheets!"

"On his sheets? Juvia... when did you smell Gray's sheets?" Erza asked, already knowing her answer.

"J-Juvia meant his clothes,"

Erza sighed. She spent more than an hour trying to prove to her that Gray didn't cheat on her (how could he, given that they didn't even go out together to begin with?), but Juvia always found something to counter her arguments.

"Juvia, if Gray did have someone special, you would know it, wouldn't you?"

"Erza-san is right! Juvia still has to fight for Gray-sama!"

"Hmm, I..."

Erza didn't have time to finish her sentence given that Juvia had already left to hide on the corner of the street.

"Juvia? What are you doing?" asked the requip mage, panicked.

"Juvia will survey Gray-sama's apartment to know who is her love rival. Juvia is sure it's Lucy!"

Seeing that her friend didn't have the desire to leave anytime soon, Erza didn't have any other choice than pretend she was surveying the surroundings, on a quest to find some imaginary troublemakers. When she passed near Juvia for the nth time, the latter froze for a few seconds. All of a sudden, she leaned toward Erza and started smelling her.

"J-Juvia? What are you..."

"Juvia should have known it..."

"What are you talking about?"

The young woman with blue hair turned her back on Erza.

"Juvia now knows who has Gray-sama's heart..."

Erza saw her friend's shoulders trembling and then heard some sobs.

"Juvia..." She started saying, not knowing how to react.

The water mage turned around to face her.

"It's alright. Juvia is okay. Juvia is happy for Gray-sama and..."

Erza couldn't hear the end of her sentence because of course, a cat started meowing because of God knows what. When she turned around to face Juvia, the latter was already leaving. The requip mage thought it would be better not to hold her back, not wanting to twist the knife in the wound (and being dead tired).

She turned toward Gray's apartment, sighing. She stared at one of the windows to see if there was movement, but she only saw darkness, like in all the other apartments. She cast a glance at the clock of the town. Two o'clock... Gray was surely sleeping... She made a U-turn and hesitated to go back to her place but she pertinently knew that, although she was dead tired, she wouldn't manage to fall asleep. On the other hand, she could force the lock of the front door or the window of his bedroom and slip in his bed... Erza turned around and headed toward Gray's apartment.

But what if she woke him up? And what's more, it would be breaking in... She made a U-turn once again and started retracing her steps. But if she left now, she would have pretended to patrol for nothing... And what's more, maybe Gray wasn't sleeping... Erza made a U-turn for the nth time and snaked in and out between the houses to get to the roofs and reach her destination : Gray's bedroom window. He was stretched out on his bed, his hands behind his head, and was staring at the ceiling. She smiled, seeing that he wasn't sleeping, and knocked a few times at the pane. She saw him turning his head brusquely toward her. Then, a smile appeared across his lips. Despite his remark about the hour, he seemed happy to see her when he opened for her. Erza quickly explained to him why she was late and lied on her habitual place, Gray's pillow against her chest. She fell asleep without realising it, a smile across her lips, as if all her tiredness had suddenly died down.

None of them knew how long their habit would last nor what they would do during a mission which would go on a few days with Natsu and the others, but one thing was sure, they felt good against each other, forgetting what surrounded them, as if they were alone in the world, just the two of them, falling asleep in each other's arms...


End file.
